Tjeldsund Bridge in Troms county. Opened 1967-08-22 after 30 months of construction. Photo: Alasdair McLellan.Coordinated public transport is not a priority in Norway. This was our shelter from the drizzle, after the first bus from Harstad, in Troms county, dropped us here. It remained parked until after the arrival of our connecting bus to Narvik, in Nordland county, 70 minutes later. The first bus is part of the Troms county bus system. The second bus is part of the Nordland county bus system.
Cityscape
The distance from Narvik to other places in the world, including the north pole. The old coat of arms with an anchor is shown at the top. Cliff Cottage is not listed, but it is 810 km south of Narvik.City Hall wall.City Hall coat of armsCity Hall anchor, formerly on the coat of arms.A Hotel we didn’t stay at.Syglede = the joy of sewing. All around the world, including Narvik, people like to sew!
Sculpture
Lille Petter = LIttle Petter/ Peter by Jozef Marek (1922 – 2020). Acquired in 1961.The sculpture Fred er løfte om fremtid = Peace is the promise of the future made by Håkon Anton Fagerås (1975 – ) was unveiled on 2006-08-06, 61 years after the USA dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.Narvik Freedom Monument, Liv opp av kaos = Life out of chaos made by Gunnar Olaf Finn Eriksen (1909 – 1970). Unveiled in 1956.The relief is a copy of the relief that was unveiled on 1960-05-28 at Place de Narvik in Paris. As a tribute to the French war veterans’ association, Paul Landowski (1875 – 1961) made the relief. French veterans from the battles at Narvik handed over a copy in plaster to Narvik 1960-07-17. Narvik municipality had the relief cast in bronze and placed it on the front wall of Narvik City Hall on 1962-08-20. The relief has the following text: In memory of the allied forces who in May 1940 succeeded in the first landing in Norway, in the Narvik area, where they won a victory which they were ordered to renounce.TownJenter i vinden = Girls in the Wind, by Tone Thiis Schjetne (1928 – 2015).
Background: 68°25′14″N 17°33′36″E
Narvik began as a bronze age settlement. In the 1870s the Swedish government began to understand the potential of the iron ore mines in Kiruna, Sweden. Port facilities were Kiruna’s one major challenge. Luleå, the closest port, was: covered with ice all winter, far from the mine, suitable for only medium-sized bulk freighters. Narvik was developed as an all-year ice free port for the Swedish iron ore mines at Kiruna and Gällivare. Gällivarre Aktiebolag, a Swedish company, built the 298 km iron ore railway line (Malmbanan) in Sweden to the Norwegian–Swedish border. The 43 km Norwegian Ofotbanen railway line connects Narvik to the border.
On 1940-04-08, Britain attempted to lay anti-shipping minefields around Narvik in Norwegian territorial waters. On 1940-04-09 Germany invaded Norway. The Battles of Narvik were fought from 1940-04-09 to 1940-06-08, as two naval battle in Ofotfjord and a land battle in the surrounding mountains. Although the Germans were defeated at sea, lost control of Narvik and were pushed back towards the Swedish border, they eventually prevailed because of the Allied evacuation from Norway in 1940-06.
Since then, Narvik has called itself the city of peace.
This is an example of a snubblestein = trip stone, found all over Norway, but in this case on a street in Narvik. Each commemorates an individual killed in the Holocaust. This one reads: Here worked Jacob Caplan, year of birth 1903, deported 1942 Auschwitz, killed 19.3.1943.
